Before Elliot Phippen left for RMI, Mama reminded him of what she said about dueling (don’t lose and don’t get caught) and Dad reminded him to write every week. Then Ariana had hugged him so tight for so long that Elliot suspected she was trying to cling on until the portkey activated so she could come to school with him.

It was actually a pretty good strategy. Mama had had to use a tickling jinx to get her to let go.

The last few weeks with Ari had been not great. Elliot’s six-year-old sister had unpacked his school trunk three times and took stuff out of his room and just generally been a brat about the fact that she was too little to go to RMI. He’d pointed out she was acting like a bitch and she had been all like “screw you!” and then eventually she had cried and said it was because she was going to miss him. Elliot didn’t know how to react to that. He was going to miss her too but he wasn’t being a brat about it. Then Dad pointed out that Ariana would get to control the TV and stuff while Elliot was gone, and Mama said they could have girls’ days, and Ari calmed down and gave Elliot’s shin guards back and it was mostly okay.

Now that the moment had arrived, Elliot stared at his jet-black dreamcatcher, waiting for it to turn a different color. He didn’t know a lot about RMI’s Houses, although pretty much everyone he knew who’d gone to RMI (his mama, Aunt Chris, Uncle Hayden, Uncle Logan, Addi, Uncle Scott and Aunt Abby) had been Lyras. The only exceptions he could think of were Aunt Hyana (Cetus) and Sadie’s mom (Aquila). Was anyone even in Draco? Who knew. No one Elliot had heard of, anyway.

When it finally changed, Elliot looked down the line of other first-years. Tycho’s dreamcatcher was green, not grey like Elliot’s. The newly-minted Aquila breathed a sigh of relief. He had known Tycho his whole life because Tycho’s mom Addi worked for Elliot’s mama Lia at her nightclub, Peregrine, and the two boys had been friends forever and gone to the same elementary school. That meant that Elliot had been over to the Leppits’ apartment and seen Tycho’s room plenty of times. He did not want to live in the same room as Tycho. Elliot wasn’t the neatest eleven-year-old boy in the world, but at least his own room was never sticky.

Checking out the other students’ dreamcatchers, Elliot noticed that Sadie had a blue dreamcatcher, and Leah from orientation had a red one. Okay. So one person I know is in Draco. He also saw another boy also holding a green dreamcatcher. Poor guy. He wanted to keep looking to see if he had a roommate, but then Toby said they could go and all the new students scattered, Elliot included. He raced over to the cream and grey fire and sat down.

Now that he wasn’t focused on the sorting, the eleven-year-old could finally get a good look at the Finer Diner. Elliot had been in magical spaces before, but the moving walls and gigantic bonfires in this room were a whole ‘nother level from Peregrine (which had to be Muggle-friendly most of the time too) or the various wizarding shops they’d been to. He’d only seen house elves a couple of times before, but Elliot wasn’t shy about flagging one down to grab a plate of loaded nachos. He scooped all the toppings (beef, cheese, beans, onions, salsa, and jalapeños) onto a single chip and shoved it in his mouth. It was pretty good but… “Hey, do you see any hot sauce?” he asked the student next to him, after he finished chewing. “This isn’t spicy enough.”

Sadie was supposed to be at the Cetus bonfire and not sitting with Elliot and the other Aquilas, but he wasn’t complaining about having one of his best friends around. Now that Uncle Hayden had... more

“No,” Sadie answered with the biggest roll of her eyes that she could muster, just to let Elliot know how much she hated that nonsense. She wanted to know where the passageways were, and her parents... more

Sadie rolled her eyes so hard that they could’ve fallen out of her head, and Elliot laughed at her tone. “Probably pretty fast,” he answered her question, although he wasn’t sure. He’d packed all of... more

Sadie couldn’t wait to start exploring Rocky Mountain International. Pretty much everyone she’d ever known in her life had worked there, gone to school there, or both. There were lots of fun stories... more

Over the past week, Grayson’s outlook on his new school alternated wildly between incredibly excited and unspeakably confused. The prospect of learning about a branch of reality that was completely... more

Instead of his family’s ranch in Oklahoma, Nolan had portkeyed to RMI from very close by in Boulder this year. About a half a mile from Pearl Street, in fact, where Nolan now owned a small amount of... more

“I got a pencil. Kinda. Will that work?” Grayson’s eye twinkled behind his glasses when he saw the pencil stub. “Perfect!” he exclaimed as he took the pencil. “This is even better! I’ve definitely... more

Nolan wouldn’t have ever described his pencil as perfect—it didn’t even have an Ever-Sharpening Charm on it—but if the first year thought it was good enough for whatever he needed to write, then... more

”You know, when you borrow stuff, you’re supposed to give it back.” Grayson blinked at the older kid. He wanted the pencil… back? Grayson turned back to the fire and blinked again. He was pretty sure ... more

The new Aquila seemed real confused about why Nolan would want the pencil he’d loaned him back. And honestly, getting the pencil back didn’t matter—like, Nolan probably would’ve forgotten all about... more

“I’m just saying,” Kaye said over her shoulder before turning back to the mirror and finishing up the heavy black liner under her left eye, “Ruben totally could have stayed over to keep you company.” ... more

Georgina had never seen a person who looked like the girl next to her. She’d seen some funny looking people, including a wizard with a beard that was as long as Gigi had been tall, and an old Muggle... more

If only the girl had seen her shoes last year. The heels had been so high that Kaye wasn’t sure she could sit on the ground if she tried. Danny used magic to make a stool for her to sit on, which had ... more

Ah, so she did come from magic. That was neat. Kaye sometimes wondered what that would be like. She really enjoyed having both Muggle and magical influences in her life, though. She was supposed to... more

“Ha, yes,” Georgina said through her food, “I’m going to be an animagus. Even if I’m something ridiculous.” She looked Kaye right in the eye as she said, “My Dad is a duck-billed platypus.” If that... more